1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to refrigerators, and more particularly, to a dispenser assembly in a refrigerator, for secure holding of a water supply pipe connected to a dispenser, and a refrigerator therewith.
2. Background of the Related Art
The refrigerators, supplying cold air produced from an evaporator in a refrigerating cycle for long time fresh storage of food. There are a variety of types of refrigerators commercially available for meeting various demands of consumers, such as an upright type having a freezing chamber and a refrigerating chamber arranged in up and down direction, and a standing side by side type having the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber arranged in left and right direction for providing larger effective inside spaces.
Moreover, recently, refrigerators each having an icemaker and a dispenser are commercially available for meeting various demands of the consumers. The icemaker is in general arranged in an upper portion of the freezing chamber for freezing water supplied from an outside of the refrigerator. The dispenser, in general mounted in a front surface of a door, so that the user is supplied with cold water without opening the door.
FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a related art refrigerator.
Referring to FIG. 1, the related art refrigerator is provided with a body 1, an upper door 2 and a lower door 3 for opening/closing a front of the body, and a hinge 5 for coupling the upper door 2 to the body 1.
There are a hinge cover 6 on the hinge 5, and a dispenser 4 in a front surface of the upper door 2. The dispenser 4 is connected to a water supply pipe 7 for supplying water to the user, and the water supply pipe 7 is extended to an upper portion of the body 1 through the upper door 2 and the hinge 5.
The water supply pipe 7 is connected to a water works (not shown) directly, or through a water supply valve (not shown).
FIG. 2 illustrates a section of a related art dispenser assembly of a refrigerator.
Referring to FIG. 2, the water supply pipe 7 passes through the hinge 5 and the upper door 2, and is connected to the dispenser 4 (see FIG. 1), and there is a hinge cover 6 on the hinge 5.
The hinge cover 6 covers the water supply pipe 7 for protecting the water supply pipe 7 from an external impact. Moreover, the hinge cover 6 hides the water supply pipe for better overall outside appearance of the refrigerator.
In the meantime, the water supply pipe 7 is sharply bent as the water supply pipe 7 passes through the hinge 5 and extended to an upper portion of the body 1. This structure prevents the water supply pipe 7 from extending high above the upper portion of the body 1, to reduce a height of the hinge cover 6 that covers the water supply pipe 7, thereby preventing the height of the refrigerator from becoming high unnecessarily, and improving an overall outside appearance of the refrigerator.
However, the related art dispenser assembly of the refrigerator has the following problems.
First, as shown in FIG. 2, the sharp bending of the water supply pipe 7 liable to forms a block portion 8 in the water supply pipe 7, to block the water supply pipe 7. In this case water supply through the water supply pipe 7 is impossible, to affect quality of the refrigerator.
Second, the sharp bending of the water supply pipe 7 provides an elastic force for restoring the water supply pipe 7 to an original state, which applies a strong force to the hinge cover 6. Particularly, water supplied to the water supply pipe 7, the elastic force of the water supply pipe 7 becomes greater by a hydraulic pressure.
Consequently, if the water supply pipe 7 keeps applying a pressure to the hinge cover 6 owing to the elastic force, the hinge cover 6 is liable to break.